Frank's eyes popped open. He was lying naked in Gerard's bed, and somewhere next to him Gerard was trying to disable his alarm clock.

The nineteen-year-old felt sticky from last night, but other than that he felt great. Frank reached out blindly with one hand, looking for his boyfriend.

Boyfriend! The word sent a thrill up Frank's spine. Gerard was his boyfriend!

Eventually his long fingers found Gerard trying to pull on a pair of jeans. Gerard jumped when Frank touched him, and Frank had to stop himself from giggling at the girly shriek that came from his mouth. A hand covered his own on Gerard's thigh.

"Jesus, Frank. Are you trying to kill me?" Gee's voice was tired, but it held a touch of humor.

Frank lifted his face up from the pillow. Gerard was perched on the side of the bed, his pants on but the button and zipper undone. His dark-hazel eyes were half-closed, but Frank could see that they were sparkling mischievously.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it long ago," Frank said, smiling. "You're much too fun to kill."

Gerard blushed faintly and Frank laughed, pulling him down for a kiss. There wasn't any tongue involved, just a quick press of lips.
Reluctantly, Gerard pulled away.

"As much as I love you when you're naked, I have to get ready," he said.

"Screw education," Frank growled, but he released his grip on Gerard's hair.

Gerard laughed and went to his dresser to find a shirt. When he came back, Frank was wrapped up in the blanket and heading out the bedroom door. "Shower," he explained seeing Gerard's questioning glance.

He was about to take another step when he felt a dull pain in his lower abdomen; one of his bigger bruises had brushed against the wall. Frank swore and looked back to see Gerard staring at him with a look of utter horror.

"Oh, God. I hurt you, didn't I?" said Gerard, jumping to conclusions. "I'm so sorry Frankie! I tried to be gentle, because I know how sore you are, but I just- Why are you laughing?"

Frank was doubled over with laughter, clutching his stomach as he fought for breath. "I'm, ha-ha, sorry Gee!" he said between fits of giggles. "You're just too, ha-ha, too cute!" His eyes were streaming as the laughter finally subsided.

Gerard was not amused. "What's so cute about it?" he demanded. "You're in pain, and it's my fault!"

Frank shook his head, smiling. "It's just a bruise from yesterday," he assured him. "I promise you didn't hurt me."

Gerard nodded, looking strange. Frank made his way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He was about to get in when he remembered that he needed a towel. Hitching up his comforter, Frank went back to the bathroom. "Hey, Gee, where do you-" He stopped.

Gerard looked up at him with glassy eyes; the older man had clearly been crying. Confused and a little scared, Frank sat down beside him and rested a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.

Gerard stared at his hands. "I thought you were dead," he said softly, hiding his eyes with his hair.

Frank's eyes widened. "What? No! I just went to get in the shower!"

Gerard laughed without humor. "I mean when that motel burned down. I saw you go in. I thought you died." His gaze left his hands and went to Frank's face. "I spent a week crying, and then I found you again. So when I saw you wince, I thought I hurt you." Gerard's eyes were bright with grief, and Frank wondered if he was going to cry again.

"But I'd never hurt you, Frankie!" Gerard continued, the grief being replaced with fierce honesty. "Yesterday, before I found you, I thought about how many people must have hurt you and that made me angry. I was so furious with people I've never met, it scared me. But I'll never let them hurt you, I promise," Gerard said firmly.

Silence settled between them, broken only by the occasional sniffle from Gerard. Frank was stunned; no one had shown that much love for him since his parents moved. He stood up to stand in front of Gerard, who had buried his face in his hands like a child. Frank put a finger under Gee's chin and lifted his face to meet his in a kiss.

-

Frank sucked on Gerard's lower lip and tilted his head to the side to get better access. Gee's lips parted and their tongues met in a battle for dominance, which Gerard won.

A second alarm went off, and Gerard broke the kiss with a small 'pop' as their lips parted.

"I have to go," he said regretfully. He tried to avoid noticing his comforter pooling around Frank's ankles.

Frank looked like an abandoned puppy as Gerard pulled his sweater over his head and left the bedroom. Gerard ruffled his hair and went into the kitchen to hunt down some poptarts. He put four in the toaster- two for him, two for Frank- and turned to see his boyfriend leaning against the doorframe in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else.

"Shouldn't you be in the shower?" he asked.

Frank waved his hand dismissively. "I turned it off. What am I supposed to do while you're gone?" said Frank, pouting.

Gerard reached out with one hand and pulled Frank to him. He wrapped his arms around Frank and leaned his cheek on the top of his head. "Well," Gee said, anticipating Frank's reaction. "I suppose that if you really wanted to, you could start bringing your stuff here."

Frank stiffened and Gerard began to panic. What if he said no? It was sudden, but they had been waiting for eachother for a month, hadn't they? 'I can't let him stay in that motel all his life,' Gerard thought.

Still no answer from Frank. And then-

"Yes."

Gerard blinked, coming out of his thoughts at the sound of Frank's voice.

Frank gazed up at him with very bright green eyes. "Yes, I'll move in with you," he clarified. "That is what you meant, right?" Frank's forehead wrinkled as his expression became worried.

POP!

Gerard barely heard the toaster go off; his mind was on the door that had just opened in his life. "You mean it?" he breathed. "No shit?"

Frank smiled. "No shi-"

A third alarm went off. Gerard swore colourfully.

"GODDAMMIT YOU ELECTRONIC SHIT-WEASEL I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" he roared. Snatching his poptarts from the toaster, he kissed Frank's hair and ran out the door.

He was halfway down the first flight of stairs when he remembered something. Dashing back to his apartment, Gerard threw open the door to see Frank standing there with a look of startled bewilderness.

"I love you," Gee said cheerily before running out again. He barely heard Frank's answering 'love you too', but his heart leapt as if Frank was standing right next to him.

When Gerard got into his Subaru, his phone rang. A quick glance at the caller ID told him it was Ray Toro; a fellow art student studying music at his college.

"Hello?" he said through a mouthfull of poptart.

"Gee! Why didn't you tell me you had a friend over? We could've had a party!" Ray said loudly. Gerard's cellphone wasn't that great, so everyone that knew him spoke loudly into the mouthpiece when calling him.

Gerard looked at his cellphone, alarmed. "How did you know I had someone over?!" he demanded.

Ray laughed. "Come on, dude! You know Mrs. Grenn and I are tight!"

Gerard slapped a hand against his forehead; he'd completely forgotten about Ray's strange fascination with the elderly woman that lived on the floor below him. "He's an old friend," Gee answered elusively. "I gave him a place to crash until he decides to leave."

Well, that was sort-of the truth.

"Bring him over sometime!" said Ray, sounding pleased to have the chance to meet new people. "It's good to see you living again."

"Excuse me?"

"Well," said Ray. "You've been kinda distant for the past month, and you were damn-near catatonic for the past week."

Gerard groped for an excuse. "I, uh, was thinking about that motel that burned down," he explained. "Happened right across the street, you know? Three people died. It stuck with me." That was complete honesty. The whole week that Gerard thought Frank was dead, he'd been writing poetry about the incident. It made him think about how fragile life was, and about how much he wanted to help people when they needed it.

"And the month before the fire?" asked Ray, sounding suspicious.

"I've been writing stuff," Gerard answered, trying to stick to whatever truth he could afford to share. He had the feeling that telling Ray that he'd fallen in love with a male prostitute wouldn't go down that well. "Poems. I was thinking about making them into songs someday."

A whistle from the other end of the line. "Songs, huh? Been busy, haven't we? Well, you talk to me if you need anything. See ya, Gee."